Similar to Margaret Thatcher, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper unified conservatives, won three elections in a row and utterly dominated the political landscape for almost a decade.

But like the Iron Lady, the conservative leader’s downfall was brutal and quick, relatively speaking.

Eleven weeks ago, few pundits gave Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau much of a shout at winning an overall majority, with the three largest parties tied in the polls in a statistical dead heat.

But if a month is a long time in politics, as the saying goes, 78 days – Canada’s longest election campaign since 1872 – is almost a lifetime.

Many countries mock the United States for its exhausting presidential campaign marathon that began to take shape August 3 (virtually the same time as the Canadian campaign started) with a televised forum featuring 14 Republican candidates – a full 15 months before the 2016 general election.